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07 September 2012

Photo Friday: Photographing Trophies (Part 1)

In this series of post, I'll show you just how hard photographing trophies can be if
you don't have a clue what to do. Thankfully, somewhere along my
journey I had a wonderful friend come to my house for a tutoring
session in photography. In return I fed him and gave him a potential
solution for one of his challenges. Let's get started with the story.

As many of you have, I have a few
trophies of the activities I've participated in. The trophies can
range from a few inches tall to several feet. Once the trophies
exceed the size of your light box, it becomes time to try a different
approach for photographing the family heirlooms. You'll need a
location in which to take pictures of these objects that has a
clutter free background and good lighting. According to many
photography blogs, one of the easiest ways to do this is to use a
seamless backdrop and set up a few lights.

There are so many ways you can create a
seamless backdrop. I enlisted the aid of my engineering husband for
this project. He came up with a system that would allow me to have
any size backdrop I want. I just change the configuration of several
pieces of PVC pipe and I can have a medium sized backdrop, or I can
extend it full length and have a 90” backdrop. I purchased 5 yards
of 90” white muslin and I'm not ready to learn how to take pictures
of objects that don't fit inside my light box.

Unfortunately, for the first object of
choice, I chose my color guard trophy.

Now, at first glance, that's a fairly
decent picture. However, the shadows are odd, the angle of my camera
to the trophy seems odd, and there is a lot of glare.
Now, I'll admit that many amateur photographers would take this
picture and be happy. I'm not satisfied with this. I want something
better.

I was frustrated. I just couldn't take
the kind of picture I wanted of the trophy. I was 'playing' but not
getting any better than the first picture. Plus, the seamless backdrop
wasn't looking it's best.

I decided to search the internet and I
learned that trophies are tough. They have highly reflective areas
which can, among other problems, capture the background (you in a red
shirt) or it bounces light back.

I also decided that covering a chair with my backdrop wasn't going
to work. I thought elevating the trophy off the ground and using the
backdrop as the cover would make the object easier to work with.
Nope. My backdrop was no longer seamless. So, I would be trying a
different approach to improve that quality.

My first attempts with a seamless backdrop was not what I had
hoped. I'm still very much an amateur and it's time to consult a
mentor.

A Patient Genealogist

I've assumed the role as family genealogist for my maternal and paternal lines of the family. I have a yearning to know the people behind the vital statistics. My quest began in the 1990s. I hope to connect with others to expand the collection I have for the main lines of Geiszler, Comfort, Brown and Long.